After a design by Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690)
Woven at the workshop of Étienne Le Blond (French, 1652–1727) and Jean de La Croix (French, 1628–1712) at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins
France, Paris
Winter, from The Seasons
INV-8047
After a design by Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690)
Woven at the workshop of Étienne Le Blond (French, 1652–1727) and Jean de La Croix (French, 1628–1712) at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins
France, Paris1700/20
Winter, from The Seasons
After a design by Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690) Woven at the workshop of Étienne Le Blond (French, 1652–1727) and Jean de La Croix (French, 1628–1712) at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins France, Paris →weaving - tapestrytextile
Date
1700/20
Medium
Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave
Dimensions
540.1 × 384.9 cm (212 5/8 × 151 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of the Hearst Foundation in memory of William Randolph Hearst
Winter presents Saturn (the god of agriculture and time) and Juventas (the cupbearer to the gods on Mount Olympus) on a large cloud. The musical instruments and the mask at Juventas’s feet allude to ballet performances and masked balls—the favored pastimes of the French court—while Saturn holds a floral wreath that features a ballet scene. In the foreground, a variety of winter vegetables are visible, along with a cage, nets, a gun, and game of various kinds: the results of a successful hunt. The buildings in the background on the right of the tapestry are identifiable as the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The border imitates a gilt wood frame and contains shell garlands above and below cartouches that feature interlocking Ls surmounted by a crown, a cipher of French king Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715). The tapestry is from a series based on the Four Seasons (Autumn is also in the Art Institute’s collection), after a design by Charles Le Brun, who was appointed director of the Gobelins Manufactory in 1663.
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